Five people have been arrested at anti-racism and anti-Islam rallies in Sydney, a day after violent clashes at similar protests in Melbourne.
About 150 members of the Reclaim Australia group gathered in Sydney's Martin Place on Sunday morning, some wearing ancient Greek army costumes and others with Australian flags draped across their shoulders.
Two blocks away, a loud counter-protest group waved banners saying "Stand With Multiculturalism Against Racism" and "No Racism, no Islamophobia".
Police kept the groups separated but one man was swooped on by officers after slipping into the anti-racism protest.
The crowd became noisy and several people shouted "Nazi" as he was led away.
George Jameson, rallying with Reclaim Australia in a replica Spartan military outfit, said they weren't racists and had come together to stand up for freedom of speech.
"Both my parents are immigrants. They both came from the former Yugoslav Republic, how can I be a racist? I'm a first-gen Aussie," he told AAP.
Labor is demanding Prime Minister Tony Abbott stop a coalition MP from addressing a "racist" Reclaim Australia rally this weekend.
George Christensen says "hell will freeze over" before he pulls out of the rally in Mackay on Sunday.
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says it's "extraordinary" that Mr Abbott is allowing MPs to attend "racist" rallies while inflicting a boycott on the ABC's Q&A program.
"I'm (here) for freedom of speech and democracy and respecting individualism, respecting someone's dignity and their human rights."
But at the other end of the street, protester Linc Saunders said some had different intentions.
"There are people amongst them who are involved with the violent far-right groups," he told AAP.
"The fact that some of them spout online pro neo-Nazi propaganda, I think that just shows who we are up against here."
Similar protests in Melbourne on Saturday were much more heated, with at least four people arrested and dozens hit with capsicum spray by police who battled to keep the two sides apart.
Other Sunday rallies were planned for Canberra, Hobart, Perth and Queensland, including Mackay, where federal government MP George Christensen and Pauline Hanson were among Reclaim Australia's scheduled speakers.
The arrests in Sydney took place during the protests and there haven't been any incidents at nearby hotels or on trains, said Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke, who was in charge of police operations in the city.
"We're quite pleased with the way the day has gone," he told reporters.
"Overall we had a reasonably good level of compliance with the protesters."
Two of those arrested are likely to be charged: a 40-year-old woman who allegedly assaulted police and a 57-year-old man accused of offensive behaviour.
Three other men, two aged 19 and one 35, were arrested for breaching the peace and made to leave the protests.
They haven't been charged.
Mr Clarke wouldn't say with which group the arrested people were rallying.
A 35-year-old man was hospitalised with minor head injuries and a 48-year-old man was treated for a minor facial cut at the scene.
"Those matters will be investigated", Mr Clarke said.
Violence absent at Canberra rallies
Vocal anti-Islam and anti-racism protesters have marched to federal parliament, closing Canberra roads and causing minor traffic delays.
Against the backdrop of federal parliament and to the tune of Men at Work's Down Under, the 200 or so protesters clashed with words on Sunday in Canberra.
Anti-racism protesters outnumbered the 50 people marching for Reclaim Australia, who object to Islam and say they're trying to uphold Australian values.
"No more mosques," they chanted, flashing signs that read "Islam is a hate group".
The louder, larger anti-racism group answered with chants of "Muslims are welcome, racists are not" and "racist scum off our streets".
The mood was at times aggressive but the violence and arrests witnessed at a similar rally in Melbourne on Saturday were nowhere to be seen in the nation's capital.
Police blocked off roads to parliament to allow the two groups to march onto parliament's lawns at about midday.
About 30 officers, some armed with capsicum spray, kept the two groups separated on the lawns.
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